Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is playing the timing game very well. While NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA) ultimately outdid it in performance, AMD arrived first to market and capitalized by months of unchallenged domination. Likewise in the ultra-mobile ("ultrabooks", "ultrathins", or whatever silly moniker you choose to throw at them) category, AMD is getting the jump on rival Intel Corp. (INTC) timing wise.

Intel's ultrabook charge will be led by Ivy Bridge, but OEMs aren't expected to ship those ultrabooks until June. By contrast, AMD reported today that it has been shipping OEMs Brazos 2.0 and Trinity accelerated processing units. Phil Hughes, AMD's senior PR manager writes:

Stay tuned: “Trinity” and “Brazos 2.0” systems will be available globally soon!

Prices on OEM partners' sweet Trinity-packing ultrathins are expected to be under $500 USD, versus the $800 to $1,000 USD most Ivy Bridge ultrabooks will cost.

This means that AMD will likely enjoy two months of unchallenged system-on-a-chip dominance. If the new chips are anything like the last generation, they will fall well below the price of Intel's current offerings Sandy Bridge, while offering superior integrated graphics.

The new chips will pack a graphics core that blends elements of the Radeon 6000 and 7000 series, for much improved DirectX 11 performance. At the same time Brazos 2.0 packs more powerful enhanced Bobcat cores, while the Llano replacement, Trinity, packs Piledriver cores -- an improved version of the Bulldozer core.

It would not be surprising to see Ivy Bridge best Trinity on a graphics front and the power efficiency front as well, but AMD may yet stay competitive on a pricing basis. In the meantime, it can enjoy a couple months of dominance.

Intel's approach still feels like something is missing. There's a high-end chip (Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge) and a low-end chip (Atom), but no mid-range chip. By contrast AMD delivers a low-to-mid end chip (Brazos 2.0) and a solid mid-range chip (Trinity). Pricing wise and performance wise, AMD is targeting the middle -- a sweet spot Intel has thus far been neglecting.

Sounds great, but I wonder how they can sell it for less than 500.00. Will they sacrifice the SSD? I can't imagine a very good screen at that price either. But I am excited to see the performance vs ivy. I also wonder how much gaming you can do on a thin and light chassis.Would it not tend to run hot?

I imagine that the sub-$500 models are going to be 5400rpm hdds and 1366 x 768 monitors. probably 320 or 500gb.

I have an a8-3530mx llano laptop (the dv6zqe from HP) that I use for moderate crpg gaming and a regular old hdd works fine. I have dreams of putting in an ssd myself but will probably not bother. But I did opt for the HP 1080p screen.

I'm sure it will be HDD at the low end, but frankly if my Thinkpad X120e had a 17W Trinity that would have been one sweet laptop. All I want is a low cost solution with enough CPU power and some gaming potential. Brazos was not really there (although much closer than anything Intel made).

Take a look at the current offerings out there, and you can find many AMD A6 based laptops in the $500 range(give or take $50). Quad-core with decent integrated graphics works for most people, and the drivers are decent. When you compare these to the really poor quality Intel based machines at the same price point(better CPU with lower quality supporting chips and chipsets), the AMD offerings are NOT bad. I can see the price dipping a bit to get under $500 if you really look, rather than going to Best Buy.